The present invention concerns methods of fabricating integrated circuits, particularly methods of forming integrated-circuit wiring, or interconnects, from metals, such as gold, silver, and copper.
Integrated circuits, the key components in thousands of electronic and computer products, are interconnected networks of electrical components fabricated on a common foundation, or substrate. Fabricators typically use various techniques, such as layering, doping, masking, and etching, to build thousands and even millions of microscopic resistors, transistors, and other electrical components on a silicon substrate, known as a wafer. The components are then wired, or interconnected, together to define a specific electric circuit, such as a computer memory.
Interconnecting millions of microscopic components typically follows one of two different methods, both of which initially entail covering the components with an insulative layer. In the first method, fabricators dig small holes in the insulative layer to expose portions of the components underneath and then, through metallization, the process of depositing a metal, they cover the entire insulative layer with a thin layer, or sheet, of aluminum, filling the holes with aluminum. Fabricators then apply an etch-resistant mask, which defines a wiring pattern, to the aluminum layer and subsequently etch, or dissolve, away unwanted aluminum, leaving behind an aluminum wiring pattern. The second method, known as a damascene process, entails digging trenches between the small holes in the insulative layer and then covering the entire insulative layer with aluminum, filling the holes and trenches with aluminum. Fabricators then polish off the metal outside the holes and trenches, leaving aluminum in the holes and trenches to define the wiring pattern. Both methods typically yield aluminum wires that are about one micron thick, or about 100 times thinner than a human hair.
Silicon dioxide and aluminum are the most common insulative and conductive materials used to form interconnections today. However, at submicron dimensions, that is, dimensions appreciably less than one micron, aluminum and silicon-dioxide interconnection systems present higher electrical resistances and capacitances which waste power and slow down integrated circuits. Moreover, at these smaller dimensions, aluminum exhibits insufficient electromigration resistance, a characteristic which promotes disintegration of the aluminum wires at certain current levels. This ultimately undermines reliability, not only because disintegrating wires eventually break electrical connections but also because aluminum diffuses through surrounding silicon-dioxide insulation, forming short circuits with neighboring wires. Thus, aluminum and silicon-dioxide interconnection systems waste power, slow down integrated circuits, and compromise reliability.
Several metals, such as gold, silver, and copper, appear, because of their lower electrical resistances and higher electromigration resistances, to be promising substitutes for aluminum. And, many polymeric insulators, for example, fluorinated polyimides, because of their lower dielectric constantsxe2x80x94an indicator of how much capacitance they will introducexe2x80x94appear to be promising substitutes for silicon dioxide. Lower capacitance translates into faster, more efficient integrated circuits. Thus, a marriage of these metals with polymers promises to yield low-resistance, low-capacitance interconnective structures that will improve the speed, efficiency, and reliability of integrated circuits.
Unfortunately, conventional etch-based interconnection techniques are impractical for making gold, silver, and copper interconnects. Specifically, silver, gold, and copper, are very difficult to etch. In fact, conventional attempts to etch a layer of silver, gold, or copper covered with an etch-resistant mask usually dissolve the mask faster than the gold, silver, or copper. Additionally, conventional techniques of working with polymers promote chemical reactions between the polymers and metals, such as copper, which undermine the insulative and capacitance-reducing properties of the polymers.
Accordingly, to build smaller, faster, more-efficient, and more-reliable integrated circuits, there is not only a need for new fabrication methods that work with gold, silver, and copper but also a need for methods that effectively combine these metals with the advantages of polymeric insulators.
To address these and other needs, the inventor has developed methods of making integrated-circuit wiring not only from superior metals such as gold, silver, and copper, but also from superior, capacitance-reducing polymeric insulators, thereby facilitating fabrication of integrated circuits with superior speed, efficiency, and reliability. In one method, the inventor incorporates a liftoff processing technique understood throughout the industry to be unsuitable for submicron applications, to successfully make submicron interconnections from gold, silver, and copper.
Conventional liftoff processing entails masking sections of an insulative layer to define a wiring pattern, and depositing a sheet of aluminum over both the masked and unmasked portions of the insulative layer. The mask and overlying deposits of aluminum are then removed or lifted off, leaving behind aluminum wires on the unmasked surface of the insulative layer. Successful liftoff requires a distinct break or separation between the metal deposited on the mask and metal deposited on the insulative layer. Without this distinct break, lifting the mask pulls and breaks or otherwise damages the microscopic metal structuresxe2x80x94the wiresxe2x80x94deposited on the insulative layer. Ensuring this distinct break, which conventionally requires building a thick mask having openings with steep, high sidewalls, is thought impractical for micron and submicron metallization because of difficulties in forming thick masks with steep-walled micron and submicron openings. These difficulties stemmed principally from inadequate planarization techniques, photolithographic limitations, and etching-control problems.
To overcome these difficulties in forming narrow, steep-walled openings in masks, the inventor recognized not only that current planarization techniques, such as chemical-mechanical planarization, ameliorated the conventional liftoff requirement of using thick masks to ensure the distinct break, but also that the effective thickness of a thinner mask, which is easier to make, could be increased in two ways. First, the inventor uses the mask to form trenches in the underlying insulative layer, which corresponded to openings in the thin mask, before depositing metal, thereby increasing the effective mask thickness by the depth of the trenches. And second, the inventor deposits only a thin, seed, or starter, layer of metal over the mask and in the trenches, not only further ensuring the distinct break necessary for successful liftoff, but also reducing the amount of metal for liftoff.
More precisely, one embodiment of the method forms a mask on an insulative layer and forms a hole or trench in the insulative layer through an opening in the mask. The opening is less than one micron wide. Then, the method deposits metal, for example, silver, gold, or copper, through the mask opening into the hole or trench, only partially filling the trench. The mask is then removed or lifted off with little or no risk of destroying the metal wiring in the trenches. To finish filling the trenches, the method concludes with an electroless metal deposition or selective chemical-vapor deposition, with the earlier deposited metal serving as a seed layer for the post-liftoff deposition.
Moreover, in another embodiment, the invention applies this liftoff technique to form silver, gold, and copper conductors in a polymeric insulator formed and cured using a unique procedure that reduces reactions with metals, particularly copper. The new procedure preserves the insulative and capacitance-reducing properties of the polymeric insulator. In contrast, conventional polymer processing techniques promote the formation of conductive oxides which increase the conductivity of the polymer and thus undermines its insulative and capacitance-reducing properties. Thus, the present invention facilitates the fabrication of integrated circuits with superior speed, efficiency, and reliability.